San Pablo Bay tidal basin flooded for marsh restoration project

The long arm of the excavator scooped up a load of mud from the levee, and as onlookers gasped, the waters of San Pablo Bay flooded the tidal marsh basin Sunday at Sears Point Ranch in Sonoma County.

The moment was the product of 10 years of planning and $18 million in funds, plus tireless work on the part of lead agency Sonoma Land Trust and more than a dozen governmental and advocacy groups.

“The restoration of tidal flows is incredibly important,” state Sen. Lois Wolk, D-Davis, told a group of about 300 activists and dignitaries who watched the levee breaching at noon.

Nearly 1,000 members of the public signed up to watch the water flowing into the recently constructed 1,000-acre tidal marsh basin off Reclamation Road near Highway 37 at 2 p.m.

“(The tidal basin) will be the first line of defense against rising sea levels and the intense storms we know are to come,” Wolk said.

“The delta and its survival are part of our national heritage and we must protect it,” Wolk said. “Fresh water mixes with the salty Pacific Ocean and this is what makes this ecosystem special. All species depend on tides and wetlands.”

The project is one of several restoring thousands of acres of marshland around the bay.

At one time, there were 196,000 acres of wetlands around San Francisco Bay, but that has been reduced to about 40,000 acres as land was diked for farming and development.

The levee at Novato’s former Hamilton Field was breached in April 2014, unleashing the bay’s waters into the 648-acre area. That $200 million project will help restore the habitat for the California clapper rail, the salt marsh harvest mouse, fish and tidal plants.

“It’s a thrill to be out here today to see the breach happening,” said Roger Leventhal, a senior engineer with Marin County. He was previously a design engineer for the preliminary design for the Sears Point Ranch project.

“If you look at what happened at Hamilton and will hopefully happen in Novato, we will have a string of wetlands all the way from China Camp all the way around up to the Napa River,” Leventhal said.

The next step in the Bay Area-wide plan is restoration of 1,850 acres north of Hamilton, including a large part of Bel Marin Keys.

‘Changing the map’

The new tidal marsh at the former Sears Point Ranch will provide habitat for endangered and native species, capture carbon, filter pollutants and buffer the highway and railroad from the rising seas and storm surges expected as a result of climate change.

The ranch spans 2,327 acres from San Pablo Bay across Highway 37 and up the hillside on the east side of Lakeville Highway near Sonoma Raceway.

“We are literally changing the map of the bay with this project,” said Julian Meisler, baylands program manager for the Sonoma Land Trust.

“Breaching the levee and flooding the tidal areas is only the first step,” said Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena. “It requires all of us working together collaboratively. Together we can manage this ecosystem and ensure it will be here for our children to enjoy.”

Other speakers included Jared Blumenfeld, a regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency; Anne Morkill, manager of the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex; state Assemblyman Bill Dodd; Janelle Beland, state undersecretary of natural resources; Jeff McCreary, director of conservation programs for Ducks Unlimited; and Greg Sarris, tribal chairman of the Federated Indians of the Graton Rancheria.

“We always understood that the health of the water is the health of the people,” said Sarris, who holds the Graton Rancheria Endowed Chair in Writing and Native American Studies at Sonoma State University. “Today after a history of alienation and separation, we are returning to the water.”

The project will also add to the San Francisco Bay Trail, a planner said.

“Today we are seeing what is the beginning of a new segment of the trail, two and a half miles,” said planner Maureen Gaffney of the San Francisco Bay Trail project. “This will connect to an existing one that is one and a half miles away at Sonoma Baylands, and will eventually make a ring around the entire San Francisco Bay.”

Gaffney added, “The access for hiking and biking and wildlife viewing is amazing.”